2. It’s crappy outside. (I live in Boston, if weather were a deterrent I’d get nothing done outside my home.)

3. I’m still sore from the last time I trained and I need rest. (Two days rest is reasonable, three days off means my work rate suffers when I get back at it.)

4. I can still protect myself and knock out opponents if I only train four days a week. (Maybe, but how many days did my opponent train?)

5. I’m in the mood for peace and love today, not fighting. (Nobody will care about my feelings when I step over the ropes. Performance is key.)

6. I don’t need to actually fight to research a writing project about Muay Thai. (No, but competition will only improve the chances of selling the project. I must be fairly desperate to be putting myself through all this, anyway, so why not take a risk and put my balls on the line?)

Like this:

No kissing and hugging: Wayne Barrett (left) won the decision over 185 lb champ Joe Schilling at Glory 12.

12/18/13 — BOSTON:

Kickboxing may be accompanied by punchier sound cues than any other fight sport.

On November 23 at GLORY 12, just seconds into Round 1, Brian Collette’s knockout kick to the head of Warren Thompson reported a brittle “SPLAT!” audible all the way back to the cheap seats of the Madison Square Garden Theater, such that fans groaned and some wondered, briefly, if part of Thompson had snapped.

In the US particularly, the savage art the French call “foot-and-fist” has been eclipsed over the last 20 years by the rise to mainstream popularity of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). MMA is a newer hybrid of fighting disciplines lead by Dana White’s Ultimate Fighting Challenge (UFC).

Live Music 2013
Against The Grain (Midway Cafe)
Obsidian and Funeral Cone (Roggie’s)
FLAG, TSOL, and Cerebral Ballzy (Paradise)
My Bloody Valentine (House of Blues)
Bad Religion and The Bronx (House of Blues)
Lenny Lashley’s Gang of One (JP Music Fest)

Best Live Sports 2013: Glory 12 Kickboxing (MSG Theater)

Best Politics 2013: On Nov. 6, 2012, 63% of Massachusetts voters approved a ballot question making our state the 18th to enact a compassionate medical marijuana program.

Worst Politics 2013: Scumbag Tsarnaev brothers interpret their inability to attract chicks in high school as a reason to murder and maim innocent people at the Boston Marathon.

My resolution for 2014: No more Boston house “pahties” because they remind of my teaching days, except I’m struggling to communicate with drunks instead of non-native English speakers. If you won’t introduce yourself, I am not coming to your party!

Captain Dave Marciano explains how the federal government’s “catch shares” program effectively squeezes out smaller-scale operators like himself, whose methods are, ironically, more conservative and less impacting to the environment.

5/25/12 – CAMBRIDGE, MATTHEW J. WEBSTER
NatGeo has signed on for another season of Wicked Tuna! The news was leaked just a few hours ago, via Facebook, by F/V Bounty Hunter mate Scott Ferreiro. No surprise to this observer, considering the show’s globe-sweeping impact as pictured above, but still very impressive considering the shared time slot with AMC’s Mad Men.

Episode 8 should remind avid viewers that Wicked Tuna is produced within the limits of the reality format: since it’s impossible to actually portray everything that takes place over the course of a commercial fishing season, Wicked Tuna unfolds in non-linear “TV time”. The goal is to evoke the spirit of the work and leave out the boring stuff.

Photo courtesy Ali Kat.

As such, Episode 8 begins two weeks before the end of giant tuna season. I seem to remember a previous installment being set two days before, but who cares? Paul Hebert, formerly of the Tuna.com, has moved over to Captain Bill Monte’s Bounty Hunter, and Monte seems to be falling prey to every good fisherman’s tragic flaw — superstition. Monte’s hoping Hebert has some inside dope, or esoteric technique, that will improve the crew’s fortunes. Unfortunately not.

“Tuna-ing is 90 percent luck,” says Hebert.

“I think the prick just likes to hear himself talk,” says his new mate, Scott Ferreiro.

Over on the Hard Merchandise, baldhead skipper Dave Marciano’s got Jason Muenzner, his first mate and nephew, under the microscope.

“I dropped the anchor a million times, but with Marciano looking over you, it’s intimidating,” says Muenzner.

Monk Mask Replica – Jason Muenzner of the Hard Merchandise.

It all comes good later, when Muenzner reels in a 500-pounder, as expertly as you please. Can we get the Hard Merchandise some classic hard rock for background music in Season 2? Maybe Queen’s Big Bottom Girls? Dave likes that one.

WICKED TUNA QUOTE OF THE WEEK – S1/EP. 8

“We might go on a streak, we might get a bunch of zeroes. But I know Dave will put us on that meat. I’m always coming out ahead when I’m fishing with him, because the knowledge he gives me is priceless.”

Above, the cast of Wicked Tuna. That’s my old high school in the background.

5/14/12 – CAMBRIDGE, #MATTHEW J. WEBSTER

Captain Ralph Wilkins of the F/V Odysea starts out this trip with a case of the midseason blues, meaning he hasn’t caught a bluefin in a while and it’s making him superstitious. Pirate, his mate, confirms the Odysea’s been having some bad luck, and proposes that “bad things” tend to happen in sets of three. The episode narrates their progress as they attempt to shake off the slump.

Salem’s Donna Monte captures the hearts of America’s deep-sea-fishing public by weeping openly at the dock as her husband, Bill, steams out in the Bounty Hunter. Like Wilkins, the Montes have been on a cold streak, and Donna has to return to her day job temporarily. But what really bugs her is missing out on a day at sea.

On the Tuna.com, first mate Paul Hebert is growing weary of Captain Dave Carraro’s management style, and rebels by sitting in Carraro’s chair, flagrantly challenging the skipper’s authority.

“I’m gonna have to get someone else,” says Carraro.

Later, Hebert meets Bill Monte in the parking lot next to Beacon Marine, a ramshackle part-residential, part-industrial wharfside complex in Gloucester that perpetually appears about to slide into the ocean. There they conspire to bring Hebert over to the Bounty Hunter. Will some of the Tuna.com’s good luck rub off? Tuna-in to NatGeo next week to find out.

WICKED TUNA QUOTE OF THE WEEK: S1/E7

“If Donna had been on deck, we would have caught that [EXPLETIVE] fish.” – Captain Bill Monte of the F/V Bounty Hunter